Wooho Waikiki

Woohoo Waikiki

4.5/10

Woohoo Waikiki

Genre: Episodes: 20 Year: 2018

Comedy

Synopsis:

Three friends who dream of making a movie together run a guest house in order to fund their dream. As their guesthouse is facing bankruptcy, a single mother and her baby arrive.

Cast:

Kim Jung Hyun (Kang Dong Goo)

Lee Yi Kyung (Lee Joon Ki)

Son Seung Won (Bong Doo Shik)

Jung In Sun (Han Yoon Ah)

Go Won Hee (Kang Seo Jin)

Lee Joo Woo (Min Soo Ah)

General Thoughts:

I was so looking forward to this drama and was all ready to love it (and I did for a short time), but after a while I just got a bit bored with it. At first it was funny in a weird and unique way and I was thinking that it would be a great drama to de-stress to, but then as it continued the story never really developed.

I just wish I'd loved this drama more

I actually felt a bit bipolar watching this because stuff I really enjoyed in the beginning, like how they would repeat a joke throughout the whole episode or how the boys just made bigger and bigger messes, I started to find really annoying on the other side of halfway. I think I kept waiting for some bigger plot or major character development to kick in, and it just never did.

Like...why would you not explain this situation?

The whole drama was very relationship focused with it zeroing in on who was crushing on who while it kind of ignored the important step of creating detailed, believable characters. While the wackiness of the characters was something that was quite funny as the drama was starting out, as things (sort of) progressed, there didn’t appear to be any depth created for these characters. Events happened that pushed the characters together, and it sort of felt like they were just falling for someone who was there rather than for the other specific character. I never fully understood what it was about Yoon Ah that made Dong Goo fall for her. She was pretty darn boring, and there just wasn’t a lot of substance to her. Aspects of her character that would have made her interesting, such as HOW SHE ENDED UP A SINGLE MUM, were just blatantly ignored. I just can’t fathom why the writers would just choose to bypass this very important character note. Yoon Ah was obviously deeply hurt by the whole experience, as was evidenced by her initial fears and hesitations about dating Dong Goo, and yet we were never given the specifics of why she felt like that. Which just made her seem a bit confusing.

I kind of only wanted them together so that Dong Goo could be a Dad to Sol

I wasn’t mad on the love-triangle either. At first I thought the competition between the men was petty and fun, but after a while it started feeling very repetitive. Yoon Ah would go to the bakery, Dong Goo would find a reason to follow her, he’d clash with Hyun Joon, all while Yoon Ah was completely oblivious.

I'm confused- usually I love pettiness

I also found that as this scene played out Hyun Joon started becoming more and more similar to Dong Goo in his childishness, which is a trait I didn’t find suited him that well. I much preferred when Hyun Joon tried to get the best of Dong Goo by being the more mature one as it made him feel like his own character rather than Dong Goo Take 2. I also thought they were both a bit underhanded with the way they dealt with the whole situation- what with always crashing the other’s time with Yoon Ah, and it kind of reeked of immaturity. But then I suppose the whole show was kind of immature. For Seo Jin and Joon Ki, I actually really enjoyed the parts of their relationship that caused a bit of tension- such as Joon Ki only seeing her as a little girl, or his career getting in the way of their relationship. However, I did find that the writers opted for an easy way out in almost every scenario. Joon Ki still sees Seo Jin as a child? Snog him, that’ll set him right. Seo Jin doesn’t like Joon Ki’s constant kidding around? Make him so sick from holding it in that she’ll have to let him kid around again. It felt like a major cop-out each time.

Would it kill you to actually address some of the problems you raised?

Situations that basically set up room for development were just turned on their heads so that we could grab a cheap and easy solution. Soo Ah probably got the most development as she was basically a total b*tch at the start, and yet by the end I didn’t mind that she was paired up with my favourite boy, Doo Shik. I don’t think they particularly suited each other (I thought Doo Shik was better with his first love turned porn star), but the show went about showing Soo Ah falling for Doo Shik in a sweet and believable way.

Not my favourite pairing ever, but definitely a winner in this drama

She relied on Doo Shik and spent so much time with him, that when he wasn’t around or when he was interested in someone else she really felt his absence. I’m still a bit confused as to what Doo Shik saw in Soo Ah, but it wasn’t outside the realm of possibility that he would like her. I must admit that while I watch a rather large amount of K-Dramas, a lot of the cameos went over my head.

I'm not sure I could ever criticise him...

There were a few that I could grasp, but unfortunately I think I missed the majority. Despite my lack of enthusiasm for the story, I did think that this was a drama that was very well acted. These characters all had a bunch of very unlikeable traits, and for the most part the actors prevented them from becoming unlikeable people. Kim Jung Hyun is just a delight, and he was fairly funny here. I never thought his actions were over the top, and thought he hit the perfect balance of serious and comedic. Similarly, Son Seung Won was very good at managing when to be funny and when to tone it down. I also found his meekness done very well, as Doo Shik seemed more innocent than the others but never too naive. Son Seung Won nailed the moments when Doo Shik lost his temper, and I found his small outbursts to be some of the funniest parts of the show. As for Lee Yi Kyung, I love him when he acts seriously, and I think he’s a very good actor. Unfortunately for me, it seems that it’s his comedy that Korea enjoys as this has been what he’s done in the last few roles I’ve seen him in.

Please take a more serious role next time, I beg you

I often found him (and his character) to be too over the top and Joon Ki felt like a completely unrealistic person. No one I have ever come across (unless they are actually mentally impaired) has ever acted like that. I enjoyed Joon Ki’s more emotional beats, but overall I found him unbelievable and irritating.

More than just a love interest

Like, if acting is so important to you how hard is it to not burst out laughing during a scene? I mean, really. As for the girls I found Go Won Hee absolutely wonderful. She had an enormous amount of charisma, and she felt like she created Seo Jin as a character to be on equal footing with the boys, rather than simply having her be a love interest. I adored the sass and fire she added to her character, and thought she had wonderful bickering chemistry with the boys. I actually really enjoyed her love-hate relationship with Soo Ah, and wished we’d got just a little bit more of it. Lee Joo Woo did a fantastic job of turning Soo Ah into a likeable character, as she was so up herself at the start that I didn’t think there was any way I’d ever find her fun. But by the end I found her charming in her own ways. Poor Jung In Sun wasn’t exactly given a lot to work with, and I honestly don’t feel like I can comment on her acting ability at all. The moments where her character showed a bit of personality I thought she did quite well, but for most of the show’s run she just had to stand there, look mildly sad, and be something for Dong Goo to fawn over. It’s like they took any shred of personality from Yoon Ah and crammed it all into Joon Ki. 

What Was Great:

Boys Boys Baby:

Kim Jung Hyun remains gorgeous, and he gave Dong Goo an adorable charm. I thought he acted the character with just the right level of maturity- childish enough to be funny and have some esteem issues, but adult enough to deal with those issues.

Just look at how natural that baby looks snuggled in there

Son Seung Won was also excellent and made Doo Shik a fun and loveable character. I tended to always enjoy the scenes that contained these boys (but there were of course a few exceptions). Baby Sol was just the most adorable thing, and I loved how it was edited so it looked like she was reacting to the conversations around her. It was very sweet to see how each of the boys looked out for her, and how natural it felt seeing them holding her or sitting with her.

I mean, who wouldn't want to cuddle that child?

I do wish that Sol had a bit more to do in the story though- there were so many golden comedic moments that were missed after the first few episodes. Sol definitely brightened up the Waikiki house, and I wish that we’d seen more of her.

What Wasn’t:

Didn’t Go Anywhere:

I just don’t think I’m the kind of person that can sit through hours and hours of something with no development.

They're still a hot mess

Perhaps if I’d found the drama funnier I’d feel differently, but I just thought that the show seemed long, uneventful (you know, meaningful events, not random ones), and at worst repetitive. I wish that perhaps the show had focused a bit more on how each of the characters were growing as people and as adults, rather than just having them reacting to a sporadic chain of events. If we compare where our characters are at the end of the drama to where they were at the start, almost nothing has changed. No one seems any more responsible or better equipped to handle the complexities of life, and none of our main three boys really made any headway into their dream of shooting a (good) movie together. While I know some people are more ‘it’s the journey, not the destination’, if I’m not enjoying the journey that much, it better have a d*mn good destination. And ‘Waikiki’ didn’t really. Some guys got girlfriends, some girls got boyfriends, and no one really developed all that much in personality or mindset.

Recommend?
Look, I feel like for most Western viewers this kind of comedy isn’t really our thing, so no. But then I have heard a lot of people enjoyed this show, so maybe. If you’re into really whacky, slightly makjang comedy with silly jokes this will be right up your alley.

It's a specific kind of humour- you'll either love it or hate it

Top 5 2017 Dramas

Top 5 

2017 Dramas

Can you believe that 2018 is almost half gone already? I sure can’t- it seemed to just fly by. In regards to my K-Drama watching, I feel like I’ve watched significantly fewer dramas this year than I had at this point last year. Is it because I’m spending more time at work? Have the 2018 dramas just not been striking my fancy? Have I actually been *gasp* socialising?! Who knows. But the fact is that my K-Drama watching has unfortunately taken a bit of a dive, so let’s take a look at best dramas that came out of last year (ie- the year I watched an exuberant amount of K-Dramas). You can check out my Top 5 2015 Dramas here and 2016 Dramas here.

5: Because This Life is My First

This drama was an unexpected winner for a lot of people. It had an interesting and unique way of looking at life and love, and gave us two leads that were about as different from usual rom-com leads as you can get. A girl who isn’t desperately seeking love or a career? A guy who isn’t either the perfect male or a complete tsundere? Unheard of. Rather than showing the heart-pounding moments of falling in love, the show focused on the small and simple way the characters fell for each other and how they had to learn to accept and live with each others’ more complicated personality traits. The leading couple were complimented by two other unique and interesting couples who had complications of their own. The cast were all brilliant without a single weak link, and they truly made their characters endearing and easy to watch. While the ending of this drama did lose it a few points, it remains an interesting and utterly engaging show.

4: While You Were Sleeping

Well to start with- Lee Jong Suk, Jung Hae In, Lee Sang Yeob. On a more serious note, the plot for this drama was totally riveting. The heroine can see the future in her dreams and gets into one of the cutest love-triangles. Each new mystery was engaging and helped to further develop the main plot line. The show was very good at hitting very emotional beats without ever feeling like it was trying to make you weep. The acting was exceptional all round (except for poor Suzy who was a bit outclassed). The plot was generally pretty fast paced, and managed to sneak in a fair amount of comedy which prevented the drama from ever becoming too dark. As a result the show was meaty but fun, and very enjoyable.

3: The Lonely Shining Goblin

Not my favourite drama by a long shot, but it was bound to make a splash. It was Gong Yoo first drama since 2012 so people were obviously to tune in. The huge budget behind this drama definitely made it feel like more of a cinematic experience than most dramas, and it was so amazingly pretty to look at, with wonderful CGI. The main love line was sweet, though a little angst-filled for my taste, but the second leads absolutely dominated with charming characters, astounding actors, and a heartbreakingly bitter-sweet story. The fantasy element of the show was continued strongly throughout, and the world building that went into the story was detailed and interesting to uncover. 

2: Circle

I find it rare to come across K-Dramas where the mystery aspect is actually extremely intriguing and…well…mysterious. Something about the length of time that dramas run for somehow seems to make it hard for writers to hold onto their secrets for exactly the right amount of time. ‘Circle’ instantly grabbed me as it was so unpredictable and had a such a strong mystery at its core. Each episode unveiled something new, so it never felt like the plot was at a standstill, but the more we uncovered the more dangerous and confusing it seemed to become. Happily, the drama also managed to bring pretty much all of its lose ends together to form a satisfactory conclusion, and answered most of the questions the plot presented along the way. The acting in this drama was absolutely phenomenal, with Yeo Jin Goo giving what I think might be his most dynamic performance to date.

1: 7 Day Queen

I love dramas that can make me cry, mainly because there are so few that can. I often read comments of people saying that certain scenes made them sob and I’m left feeling completely confused as to why and how. ‘7 Day Queen’ made me weep. It was so beautiful and so sad, and was the true embodiment of a tragic love. No matter how hard the characters tried to make things work in their favour there were always too many obstacles in their way. And unlike most K-Dramas, these obstacles were actually extremely dangerous. Such as our hero getting hamstrung. The villain was an absolute standout as he was so twisted, but also extremely vulnerable. It was hard (in a good way) to watch him enter his downward spiral, and impossible to fathom a way for him to get out of it. The visuals were absolutely breathtaking, and the acting was all excellent- particularly from our broken King.

What were your favourite dramas from 2017?

Jugglers

Jugglers

7/10

Jugglers

Genre:                                                   Episodes: 16                                    Year: 2018

Romance

Comedy

Synopsis:

Jwa Yoon Yi works as a secretary and is dedicated to her job. After she is wrongfully accused of inappropriate behaviour, she is transferred to a new department with a new boss. Yoon Yi’s new boss, Nam Chi Won, is not interested in interpersonal relationships at work, and despises the fact that he now has a secretary. Chi Won wants to move back into the house he lived in as a child, and signs a rental agreement, even though Yoon Yi is the landlord’s daughter and lives on the first floor.

Cast:

Baek Jin Hee (Jwa Yoon Yi)

Daniel Choi (Nam Chi Won)

Kang Hye Jung (Wang Jung Ae)

Lee Won Geun (Hwangbo Yool)

Cha Joo Young (Ma Bo Na)

In Gyo Jin (Jo Sang Moo)

Jung Hye In (Park Kyung Rae)

Kim Chang Wan (Do Tae Geun)

Min Jin Woong (Woo Chang Soo)

Seo Eun Woo (Do Do Hee)

General Thoughts:

All in all ‘Jugglers’ is a fun little show that delivers exactly what it said it would- a simple, light-hearted office romance. There’s not really any high stakes, big betrayals, or dramatic reveals, but what the show does do, it does quite well.

Bring on the co-habitation hijinks

‘Jugglers’ takes on pretty standard rom-com trajectory with a pretty standard hate-to-love relationship at its core. There’s nothing revolutionary in the plot, but the drama takes a recipe that’s known to work well and flavours it with its own special details. While the main love-line was pretty common stuff (it was still cute though),

Growing together to make the office better

the show felt unique for its adorable second leads and its amusing, but not particularly threatening villains. The show was more about the developing relationship between its leads (and the second leads) and their small day-to-day victories than it was about some big obstacle to overcome. While that sounds almost a little plain and boring, sometimes it’s nice to watch a show that has no big, bad evil in it. There was enough story in Chi Won learning how to accept help from others and Yoon Yi learning how to give that help that there was no need to have some diabolical villain messing things up. Not to say that there weren’t any villains, as Yoon Yi’s first boss and Sang Moo could definitely be considered as such, but as they were mostly ineffectual and full of bluster rather than danger, it felt a little more low-key and natural. Thankfully office politics were kept out of the drama for the most part (because does anyone ever actually enjoy watching office politics?), and were only sprinkled through lightly when needed.

Do I care about office politics? Not. At. All.

There were hints of characters trying to get ahead of each other and use each other, but the majority of the drama focused on Chi Won and Yoon Yi simply trying to do their jobs well, regardless of what other people in the company were doing.

Sass and beautiful hands- he really is the whole package

Daniel Choi was just phenomenal as our leading man. In K-Dramaland I’ve seen bad-boy-sexy, cute-sexy, and sexy-sexy. I’ve seen dorky-cute and dorky-dorky, but I must say that I think Daniel Choi has delivered my first ever dorky-sexy. He started out pretty regularly dorky with his red pens and anti-social personality, but as his character started to care more and more about Yoon Yi and started stepping up to protect her, Daniel Choi really turned on his charms, yet still held onto his character's trademark dorkiness. I never knew a man quoting ‘One Piece’ in the middle of a verbal smackdown could be so steamy. Daniel Choi you are a complete magician. Unlike Chi Won, I found Yoon Yi a little harder to warm to. While Chi Won was dorky-sexy, Yoon Yi was kind of b*tchy-sweet. Which is a weird combo. I could see the character the writer was aiming for (something like Shin Min Ah in ‘Arang’ or Jeon Ji Hyun in ‘My Love from the Stars’)- sweet on the surface but with a sassy streak shown though disgruntled ramblings while others aren't listening.

I'm glad we got rid of that fake-ness real quick

Unfortunately with Yoon Yi I found that this dichotomy in her character felt more two-faced rather than funny and relatable. I thought this came from a teeny tiny weakness in Baek Jin Hee’s acting more so than a flaw in the way the character was written. Yoon Yi just felt a touch too sugar sweet when she had her secretary face on and a touch too arrogantly snarky behind the scenes. Her character became more balanced as the show progressed as we saw her working hard, doing her best, and most importantly falling for Chi Won.

This was one of the most awkward kisses I've ever seen- and I've seen a lot of awkward kisses

While I do think the leads fell in love rather rapidly, I didn’t mind too much that we whizzed through the initial crush stage, as it meant we got more of them being cute together and lost Yoon Yi’s few hints of nastiness.

I think I might actually be in love with you

Lee Won Geun completely stole my heart in this drama as the immature, naive, but insanely adorable boss. I’ve seen him in ‘Mystery Queen’ and boy does this man do puppy characters well. Usually I get bit bored when actors play the same character- but I am so on board for seeing more of Lee Won Geun’s beautifully innocent smiles. His relationship with Jung Ae was super sweet, and I adored how well they complimented each other. The lonely child in Yool needed someone to love him and take his side and look after him like a mother, and that’s exactly what Jung Ae did. Jung Ae herself needed someone she could help. After being dumped by her husband for his secret other family and always being cold-shouldered by her son, Jung Ae really needed to feel like she was making a difference and being useful to someone. Not only did the two help each other out in their work environment, but they both provided the steady emotional support that they’d been craving.

I know I'm in love with this story-line

While I was totally keen on the two characters having a romantic relationship, I could see how some viewers might find that a bit unnecessary, and to that end I'm okay with the series ending with Jung Ae and Yool having a very close friendship.

Protecting Yool's puppy heart

I’m free to imagine them realising they love each other and forming one big happy family, but those who don’t want to see that don’t have to. I’ve only known Kang Hye Jung as Haru’s Mum on ‘Return of Superman’, so I was pretty excited to see her act in something. I thought she did pretty well with not making Jung Ae seem to pathetic- which was a definite possibility going in. She gave Jung Ae just the right amount of pitifulness with just the right amount of backbone. While I thought a bit more development of the other office workers would have been nice, at the end of the day, I didn’t mind that we spent majority of our time with the four leads either. One thing I do wish the show had done was to make Kyung Rae a bit more involved in the story. We had these four friends, and Kyung Rae seemed like one of the more interesting ones, and yet it was her story that never got fleshed out. I wanted to know the hows and whys of her quitting being a secretary and to be honest, I just wanted more screen time for her.

Scene stealer of the year

Jung Hye In is pretty darn charismatic and I loved her pixie haircut so much that I’m dying for someone to make a cross-dressing K-Drama with her as the star. Please K-Drama gods? Pretty please?

What Was Great:

Nice and Cute:

Everything in this drama is pretty easy-breezy with a nice flurry of cuteness. Chi Won and Yoon Yi were so sweet when they were together, and I cannot tell you how much I appreciated their lack of noble idiocy.

I do enjoy a stress-free drama for when I'm feeling stressed

For a while there it seemed like every step in the story was trying to force one of the two into some form of noble idiocy- and yet they both managed to avoid this fate at every turn. Rather than separation for the sake of separation, Chi Won and Yoon Yi talked things through thoroughly and agreed on a course of action. Even when they weren't working in the same office or living in the same house,

There was even a bromance with bonus couple outfits

they remained a team and didn’t let anyone stand in the way of their relationship. Not only does that make for more sweet moments in the drama, but it also prevented me from becoming overly annoyed with either of the leads. They were always working to be better together and strived to move forwards without taking any great leaps backwards in their relationship. It was delightfully refreshing. Yool was of course insanely adorable all on his own and rapidly became my favourite character. There’s no one or two things about him that were wonderful- it was the combination of him paired with Lee Won Geun that was just magical. Another reason that this show was so sweet and fluffy is that the villains were given very moderate amounts of screen time. They were always present enough that they remained a source of tension, but I never felt like we were spending too much time with them. Why would we focus on the bad guys when there’s so much cute going on between the leads?

What Wasn’t:

Redemptions for All:

As a rather horrifically unforgiving person, I don’t tend to enjoy when K-Drama villains are given glowing redemption arcs. Especially when it feels like they’ve just been thrown in at the last minute.

What can I say- loving forgiveness just isn't my style

From the get go I knew that Bo Na was going to turn bad (girl just looks shady) and then change back onto Yoon Yi’s side. I was prepared for it, but I still didn’t love it when it came around. Don’t get me wrong, I thought it was interesting on so many levels to have Bo Na betray Yoon Yi- all the jealousy was great.

They ruined it for themselves

It was the stupid ways the show tried to save her character that really annoyed me. Her father is mute so that justifies her being a total b*tch and throwing her friend under the bus at work? Yeah, nah. It’s just not cool. Bo Na doesn’t even have to grovel or apologise that much in order for Yoon Yi to forgive her. Yeah, I know that Yoon Yi was being the bigger person here and that we should all probably learn from her shining example- but what the hell, Bo Na nearly got her fired and could have ruined her relationship. That’s some pretty serous stuff to just have swept under the rug. Sang Moo’s redemption arc (or should I say redemption scene) was a bit more out of the blue. Suddenly he as a dying mother and he used to be a good boss and Bo Na actually likes him? Like, where did all of this come from? If we’d have had a bit more of these moments sprinkled throughout the show rather than mashed in at the end I would have been more comfortable about Sang Moo’s redemption, and been more interested in his character as a whole. As it was, his sudden goodness felt a bit unwarranted and unwanted.

Recommend?

If you like office romance (cuz I know a lot of people don’t) this is a cute and easy watch.

It was relaxing and fun